Water-Soluble Organic Gases: ENVR 400 In-house Seminar

Barbara Turpin, professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, will present this week’s seminar in the department’s Spring 2019 series. Turpin’s talk is titled, “Water-Soluble Organic Gases and Their Influence on Chemistry in Diverse Environments.”

Abstract

Water is the most abundant condensed phase species in the atmosphere (including in aerosols). It has a dramatic effect on radiative forcing and enables reactions that alter
atmospheric composition. My group examined the potential for water-soluble organic gases to be converted to organic aerosol through aqueous chemistry in clouds, fogs and
wet aerosols. We contributed to chemical mechanisms used in global assessments, and expanded the recognition that liquid water must be considered to understand the
chemistry, thermodynamics and impact of atmospheric organic aerosols. The increasing interest and intellectual engagement of others, improved analytical methods, controlled
experiments, predictive modeling and use of tracers in field studies have driven a rapid advancement in understanding. Within this context, this talk examines insights into the
impacts of water on water-soluble gases in ambient air, in a biomass burning plume, and in indoor residences in the Southeastern US. This work makes use of real-time
measurements and experiments with ambient aqueous mixtures. Implications to exposure will be discussed.